6 nations talk on Iran in Germany

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-05 09:39

WIESBADEN, Germany -- World powers said on Wednesday they were committed to a diplomatic solution on the issue of Iran's nuclear program and welcomed US President Barack Obama's offer to talk directly with Tehran.

The powers, meeting for the first time on Iran since Obama took office on January 20, urged Iran to comply fully with UN demands, which include a halt to uranium enrichment and opening up to a UN nuclear watchdog investigation.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman had no immediate comment.

"(Officials) emphasized their common commitment to a diplomatic solution of the Iranian nuclear issue on the basis of the dual track strategy," said a joint statement from the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.

The partners were referring to their longstanding approach of using diplomacy and the threat of international sanctions to persuade Tehran to rein in its nuclear program.

US President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington, DC. Senior diplomats from six world powers met for the first time under the new US administration to discuss Iran's nuclear ambitions, two days after Tehran launched its first satellite. [Agencies]

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, opposed direct talks with Iran to resolve the standoff, but Washington is now reviewing its Iran policy. The new administration is considering a range of options to get Iran to change its behavior.

A European official involved in the talks, but who declined to be named, said that all partners present were encouraged by the change in US approach.

"This is going to be an important period we are going into. It's a new beginning although still on the dual track," he said. "(The United States) didn't come to this meeting to tell us what their new policy was, they came to talk through where we were."

New Meeting

A different official said there had been no talk of new sanctions at the meeting and that partners would meet again once Washington had completed the review process of its Iran policy, with a gathering likely to take place in London in March.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband stressed the urgency of dealing with the Iran issue.

"No one should underestimate the fact that this is a present issue, not an issue that can be comfortably punted into the second term of an Obama administration," he said at an event in London, without directly commenting on the talks in Germany.

A representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the possibility that the hostile state of relations with Washington would change under Obama.

"Opposing the Zionist regime and defending oppressed people are among the pillars of the Islamic revolution and Iran and America's relationship will not change because of Obama taking office," said the representative to the Revolutionary Guards in northwestern Zanjan province, cleric Hojjatoleslam Ali Maboudi, according to the Fars News Agency.

By "Zionist regime," he was referring to Israel -- Washington closest Middle East ally -- whose existence is not recognized by the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a news conference there would be no talks between Iranian and US officials at a security conference in Germany this weekend.

The UN Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. Western powers suspect the work is aimed at building an atomic bomb. Tehran says it is for peaceful power generation only.

Iran has rejected the powers' longstanding demand for a suspension of enrichment before talks can begin and has gradually expanded its program during the stalemate, raising fears it may be approaching bomb-making capability.